Having acquired the equipment, learnt the basics of shooting a video and edited together the raw footage, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the hard work was over. In actual fact, it’s just beginning and the task now is to turn the video into a powerful piece of online content and ensure it pulls its weight from a rankings perspective.

For those unused to working with multimedia files, optimizing online videos can present a daunting learning curve. The challenge is to keep in mind the basics of search engine optimization, think like your target market, work around the pitfalls, channel the unique opportunities video presents and understand the limitations of search engine spiders when faced with something that isn’t a straightforward chunk of code.

1.       Consider how the video is added to your site

Making the absolute most of your new online video is of the utmost importance if it is truly to pull its weight from an SEO perspective. Central to that is making it easy to find on the website and well promoted from the home page and other key landing pages. There’s no point for example adding the video to a News page and not promoting it on the home page as a new addition for the simple reason that not all customers considering buying will always check your media centre but most will visit the home page. Consider how you funnel traffic through your site and include the video or a promo of the video along that user journey.

Making the video a prominent part of your site means that traffic is most likely to click to view, allowing the potential of online video as a medium to be unleashed. It also makes it more likely that viewers will link back to the page, share on their Facebook profiles, discuss on their blog, Google+ or add to their social media activity in some way – all essential to improved keyword rankings.

2.       Add a transcript

It’s always a smart move to prepare a transcript of the video before it is uploaded to your site. Many make the mistake of leaving the transcript for a later date, thinking the video itself is work enough. As search engines can’t crawl the video content, the page is little more than empty space, negating all of the effort put in to reach that point. Preparing a transcript should be quick and easy as it’s no more than simply writing down in text the words that are being spoken on the video. You can also add descriptions in square brackets to set the scene and increase the opportunity to use important keywords.

3.       Add a description

It’s not enough to simply embed the video on your page, you also need to add a description. Consider how a news anchor introduces a story on the local news broadcast. They don’t simply play the footage, they describe the story first, it’s points of interest and where the report is coming from. Adopt this same approach with your video and use your description as a call to action, encouraging those who have landed on the page to take the next step and actually click ‘play’. The description is once again a chance to add optimized text to the page so don’t be afraid to add other SEO elements such as internal links and sections of bold text to emphasize important points.

A shortened version of that same description can also be used to populate the description field when the video is uploaded to YouTube and other video sharing sites, so this will ease the workload later on.

4.       Don’t Neglect the Title

Just because the content of your video may be compelling, there’s no excuse to neglect the title. Getting creative with the page title can do your video justice and will play a role in how well indexed the page is. As always, the rule of thumb is not to go over 60 characters, not to overload with keywords, not to duplicate a title tag from another page and to be as descriptive as possible.

If you feel you have too much to say about the title or are feeling especially creative, save the longer description for a H1 tag in the body of the page.

Conclusion

Putting together the ideas from Part 1 and Part 2 of this discussion of adding video marketing to your online strategy with the concrete optimization tips in this final Part 3, you should be ready to begin an actual project on your website. As you do so, we’d love to hear any additional tips you come across in the process.

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Adding a video element to your online marketing mix is a smart move, with studies showing greater brand recall, message recall and higher purchase intent for online video spots than TV ads – making it quicker, easier and cheaper to connect with the desired demographic. Over and above the very real possibility of increasing sales volumes, online video marketing can also help reach overall search marketing goals, acting as a form of link bait and also providing a different form of optimization-ready content.

But before you can start to think about how online video can help increase your search positions, you first need to actually make the video. Although there are hundreds of video marketing specialists springing up, those on a tight budget or not too sure about the suitability of video marketing may want to get a little first-hand experience before outsourcing.  Try these tips to get started…

1.       Basic Equipment Checklist

A digital video camera is the quickest and easiest way to start shooting footage. It also offers much easier transfer of the film to your PC. A basic digital camera is fine to start with and if you’d rather not invest in purchasing a brand new machine, consider borrowing one from a friend temporarily or scour eBay for a second hand bargain. Some photography stores also offer camera rental so it’s also worth calling round local suppliers before committing to buying new equipment.

Along with the camera, you’ll also need a tripod. This is essential for adding a professional edge to any footage you film including interviews and static product shots, giving stability to the camera and improving the watchability of the finished product.

If your video spot includes any commentary or interviews with third parties, a decent quality microphone is also a necessary addition. Poor sound quality can ruin an otherwise great video. Not only is it annoying to the viewer, poor sound can also mean your audience misses key points.

2.       Choose Your Software

As well as all of the basics listed above, you’ll also need video editing software to turn all of the raw footage into an online video complete with title screens. Windows offers basic video editing software in the form of Windows Movie Maker. This is a great starting point and useful for practicing splicing scenes and editing footage. You can also add soundtracks and title screens.

When you get more proficient, you may want to consider investing in more specialist software, which will give a more professional polish to the final video. Adobe Premier is used by several TV stations and media professionals and is comprehensive in its functionality.

3.       Practice with Lighting

Great lighting is as important as good sound but getting the light balance right takes some practice. Before setting the camera rolling, learn what the white balance is and how to set it up and have a go lighting a few test shots before hauling out products or interviewees. Replay the footage to yourself and evaluate if the lighting is sufficient. If you’re planning any filming indoors, you may need to invest in a few extra lights such as fluorescent strips which you can move quickly into position when needed. Standard desk lamps may also be sufficient if you can combine one or two, depending on how much natural light the location has and whether you’re filming near a window, during the day or at night.

Great lighting is imperative for product shots as you’ll want to display your wares at their very best in all of their Technicolor glory. Experiment with different colored bulbs and wattages to get the exact effect you’re after before starting to film. Always check on screen to be sure the lighting translates well from reality to footage.

4.       Storyboard a Plan

There’s little point in turning your camera on and hoping for the best. The only way a cohesive, professional quality video will happen is if you plan each shot. Draw squares to represent each scene on a piece of paper and sketch out what should be in each shot. Include bullet points about what you’ll need, what you hope to achieve and where the filming will take place. You’ll likely need to use a few different locations and may need to film several members of staff or products – planning on paper will allow you to make the best use of time and resources. It will also force you to think about the structure of your online video, giving it a cohesive focus and fluidity.

Conclusion

Use the four tips above to plan your first video, experiment a little with different ideas and shots, and then put your ideas to work.

Any other tips that readers have found useful for initial forays into video marketing?

Part 3 of this post, which explores some actual SEO tactics for video, will appear tomorrow.

Part 1 of this post is located here.

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When web publishers and search engine optimizers talk about optimizing content and improving search engine rankings, invariably the focus is on website copy, articles and news releases. We talk about writing content that engages, spend hours mulling over interesting blog post ideas, draft in experts to pen news releases and link bait articles, all in the name of the holy grail – page one rankings. The reality is that somewhere amongst this dedication to increasing online brand presence, video marketing should be given a second and even third thought. Studies have shown that video ads convert extremely well and some researchers even claim internet video provokes more of a reaction than TV ads do.

Case Studies Show Online Video Boosts Purchase Intent

A case study by an online video networks (Yume, ScanScout and BBE) found purchase intent amongst those watching an online video spot was 76% higher than those who hadn’t. Awareness increased by 205% and there was a 62% increase in daily sales volumes. Each of these metrics relate to 30-second video ad spots shown online, but can also be translated to longer videos and demonstrate the power of engagement when online video is leveraged correctly.

A second study by Nielsen posted similar results, with the research firm concluding that online ad spots had a 65% recall, compared with just 46% general recall for TV ads. Brand recall for online video advertisers was also much higher – 50% for online v 28% for TV. Crucially, online video ads also fared better in message recall measurement and likeability, in the survey of 14,000 consumers.

The proof is in the pudding of course and there’s no denying that creating an interesting, professional video — be it an ad spot or longer piece of film — takes time, effort and budget. However, a small spend in the short term can reap big rewards in the long term with a library of multimedia content to be added to your marketing arsenal. This can be used on the website, in social media posts, sent out as part of newsletter shots, run as shorts at exhibitions and seminars, sent out on CDs for direct marketing, handed out in the store in place of expensive print catalogues… the possibilities really are endless.

What’s The SEO Perspective on Video Marketing?

From an SEO perspective, video marketing can at first glance seem to be a bit of a waste of money. The stats concerning user engagement aside, the reality is that not only do you need to buy or hire camera equipment, come up with a concept, buy the right editing software and dedicate time to learning how to put a video together (or go through a recruitment or tendering process to find a freelancer or company capable of doing the same), you do all that and then Google can’t even access the content. Right? Wrong!

While it’s true that search engine spiders can’t crawl through a video file, they also can’t crawl through image files and that wouldn’t stop you investing in great quality images to go on your site. Commissioning a video marketing product is just the same and while videos don’t have alt tags, they can have transcripts, subtitles, titles, descriptions and link bait value.

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Part 2 of this post will look into video marketing and online strategies in more detail.

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New Approach to Multimedia Could Spell Doom For Top Engines

Impressive performance

The founders claim an astounding threshold of confidence and impressive indexing speed for what appears to be such a revolutionary technology.

“The first information we want from the Brain is whether or not it can identify with high confidence the set of objects in an image or video content,” says Roychowdhury. “In many cases, it cannot so we discard those parts of the content or scene.”

Still, the founders claim the Brain can accurately understand the context of a significant percent of all online video. The rate of understanding increases when you look only at high quality video – the type of video that high end publishers commonly seek to monetize.

“When the Brain claims to know the objects, it performs above 90 percent accuracy and is constantly improving,” adds Roychowdhury. “Plus, even if it captures just more than 20 percent of all online video, that is a huge amount of multimedia content. We focus on preserving the Brain’s high quality performance. So it retains only the most reliable object signals.”

The speed of the Brain is already impressive. Video provides the most elaborate challenge, with thousands of frames and complex audio files. Even the high quality video on which it focuses can be indexed by the Haileo Brain in just 3-5 times a video’s run time. So a high quality one minute video can be indexed in just 3-5 minutes. Once that process is complete, it’s cached and remains available in real time from that point forward. In the future, this could theoretically happen in real time, even with live events.

Current Applications

Although fun to consider the potential of the technology, Haileo’s Vizilinks product already pays dividends for publishers, advertisers and shopping comparison sites. The technology is up and running on MetaTube (www.metatube.com), where almost every video features ads matched by Haileo.

“Most publishers can significantly improve their efforts to monetize video and image assets with considerably less effort,” explains Roychowdhury. “First and foremost, they need to better understand the multimedia they’re monetizing within the context of the user experience. Haileo helps them do that.”

The process requires publishers to insert a single line of javascript inside the html page. From there, the Brain sniffs the page and quickly begins serving ads. The video does not have to be edited, a potential game changing factor for publishers, who could cast aside many troubling copyright issues. The ads can overlay on or appear adjacent to the video.

For marketers, the Brain analyzes their ads like any other online object. The ads are mapped to all other objects to determine synergy between them. As the Brain identifies the best matches, ads are served around the most relevant multimedia. Product data feeds can integrate inventory, promotions and other timely information.

Haileo is also developing specialized vertical brains. The first specialized brain focuses on fashion. Electronics is next on the docket. The company plans to continue expanding its focus into new verticals. Adding clients in other verticals will help establish their roadmap and timeline.

Some hesitant advertisers and publishers might worry about disastrous brand associations. Haileo has several ways to put their nerves at rest; its teams constantly optimize based on performance. This provides a self policing mechanism for poorly matched objects similar to other best practices in paid search and contextual advertising. Publishers and advertisers can also set their own rules like limiting or prohibiting certain brands, for example. Advertisers can do the same with publisher sites.

Haileo can also establish a transition period. On one end of that spectrum, humans must approve every ad placement individually. On the other, the Brain gets free reign to place ads as it sees fit. The needle can be set initially on the side of human involvement for the hesitant advertiser or publisher. As they grow more comfortable and trusting of the decisions it makes, they can turn the dial more toward the Brain.

As our world becomes increasingly saturated with multimedia content, information gathering and organization become increasingly complex. New technologies like this not only hold the potential to make video and other multimedia content more orderly and accessible to users. They offer publishers simplified monetization that can make a difference immediately.

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As TV product placement investments flow from automotive, fashion, electronics and consumer packaged goods brands, specialty and mainstream products of all types saturate our televisions. Real time multimedia search could deliver superior returns for brands and content providers alike. Viewers could instantly request more information or connect with local businesses selling thousands of different wares.

More immediately, as online news publishers move away from the written word toward more video-based content, each video could serve as a curator of content for the page that surrounds it. Videos could deliver ads, coverage and content to each user that is entirely relevant to the user experience without any human intervention. These futuristic scenarios may be closer than you think. A new and innovative approach to search is underway at Santa Clara, CA-based startup Haileo (http://www.haileo.com/). The company has developed what its executives call the Haileo Brain.

I recently spoke with co-founders Vwani Roychowdhury and Nima Sarshar to learn more about the technology’s immediate potential for product marketers and its future potential as a media game-changer.

Defining Context through Entities, Objects and Concepts

The Haileo Brain is a machine representation of the real world, and is modeled after the real brain. It comprises images, audio signals and text phrases that capture different attributes of objects and experiences; in addition such attributes have links among them that capture similar intent or functional and contextual relationships. Then, just as humans experience or understand a video or a movie scene by recognizing familiar objects and reliving the external signals inside their brains, the Haileo Brain understands multimedia by first recognizing familiar signals in the video, and then stitches together a wide range of elements (already stored inside it) to generate a contextual, intent-driven and sequential summary of the content. This contextual summary, in conjunction with other data such as user’s profile, can then be used to target ads or related content at the right time and right location as the video is watched.

How does one create such a versatile brain?  Currently, search engines such as Google and Bing get help from the thousands of marketers who bid for search terms and perform SEO, and also from the 100’s of millions of users who perform queries. All this data help them to create an associative database of what phrases and images people choose and what are some of the related products and services. With the visual signal playing a dominant role in a video-centric world, the current paradigm may not be that useful and alternate means of processing multiple signals in a common framework are considered to be too futuristic. This is where the Haileo Brain aims to take a giant leap. Like Sarshar says, “Most objects and experiences are documented on the web on multiple sites, complete with images, text and audio signals. We crawl the web and automatically aggregate the relevant visual signals and link them to related visual, audio and textual signals.” Roychowdhury adds, “This is a new kind of science – distilling entities from the web– that allowed us to make a breakthrough.”

To fully understand this technology, let’s address Haileo’s definitions of three critically important terms:

1. Entity: the underlying tangible thing that exists offline (a PlayStation Portable 3000, for example)
2. Object: any atomic multimedia signal (for example, a caption or other text source, an image, a video frame, an audio file, etc.) that is an attribute of an entity (for example, an object relating to a PSP-3000 could be an image of a game, a video file of an advertisement or customer review.)
3. Intent Categories:  A group of entities that have similar intent or represent the same category of experience (for example, entities such as a scene of a fashion runway, luxury apparel, and jewelry would fall under the intent of fashion; similarly, entities such a stadium, tennis court, and rackets would fall under sports).

Like Sarshar explains it, “The challenge is to understand what an image or a video segment is on many different levels.” Sarshar further explains, “Object level understanding may not be enough in many occasions. An image about a basketball court even when correctly identified at the object level does not tell the complete story: one also needs to know that one can show ads about tickets to local games, jerseys, sports shoes etc. This is where the Haileo Brain kicks in and provides a contextual map of the intent space. ”

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The post continues tomorrow with details of the performance and speed of Haileo and current applications for the technology.

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The use of entertainment videos for branding purposes is an approach being adopted by an array of different companies. This article will delve into stylistic principals that are germane to this style of video.  Other topics covered are how they can assist in branding and increase revenue.

Increasing revenue is the ultimate goal of any business whose goals are longevity and stability.  Marketing is the conduit that can connect to this objective. One can’t patronize a brand that one isn’t aware of; thus, the heavy influx of branding entertainment videos. The Internet is riddled with video players that harbor this style of promoting.  Some of the locations where they can be viewed are video sharing websites, the front of email pages, company websites, as well as television.

There are “reality” television shows that attract companies who see ways in which to cross promote their product and or brand using this form of programming. This format can be presented in various ways.

One approach is seeking a show that either has an obvious correlation predicated upon the topic of the show.  For example, if it is a home renovation reality show, paint, appliance, lawn fertilizer companies, and the like will ally their products and logos constantly throughout the program. Other programs, such as a music competition show, might be attractive to an alcohol beverage company. In this instance, the product and or marketing materials will be married (shots that contain the beverage or any signage, etc.) to the episodes with the idea that their target demographic will watch this show. This acts as a vessel to their desired group of consumers.

How to reach consumers is the maze that a company must navigate.  With e-mail being a dominant form of communication, it’s only plausible that this video format would be integrated into this marketing platform.  The motif of cross promotions is used just as it is for television.

However, a couple of differences are the total running time of the videos and marketing opportunities. Online is significantly shorter, typically running no longer than ten minutes as opposed to a 22 minute (or longer) television show.  The subject matter can vary.   There are short videos with popular television personalities addressing the camera giving tips about how to keep fruit from discoloring and then there are some that provide home improvement tips while having an SUV in the background.

Branding on television is restricted to only having the option to promote inside the frame.  The online space provides the opportunity for what I like to call “multiple branding.”  The videos are one source, in conjunction with banner ads, as well as a company’s names, logos, and products on each side of the video player — plus below. Having eyes on your branding video is always essential but dominating the page and the frame will elevate a brand faster to the top of the minds of their target market.

It’s wise for a company to understand their target market and most importantly their source of information.  These days, video sharing websites are at the top of the list when people want to be entertained.  This fact entices energy brand beverage companies, for example, to cross promote their branding entertainment videos with music artists that they believe their target and or potential clients are willing to watch.  The multiple branding strategy and product placement is also used in this arena.  However, this video structure is quite different than previously stated.  A documentary style is often adopted for their concerts. There are artist interviews, sometimes sound bites from fans, intertwined with footage from their performance.

Some brands such as garment cleaning products have videos with a direct correlation between their talent’s performances, topic, and the way in which it works.  Often times, there are a series of short videos on the company’s website (and other locations as well such as social media sites).  If the brand cleans clothes, for example, there might be various stain removal tips.  This is done using a style of graphics similar to bullet points. Cleaning steps are shown and there’s an on-air personality explaining effective ways to integrate their product into the cleaning process.  Some videos aren’t as literal, but there is always a crystal-clear connection to the topic and the product such as fashion tips paired with a laundry detergent brand.

Whether it’s a detergent, energy brand, or alcohol beverage company, branding entertainment videos is an effective way to thrust your product and or service into the minds of your target audience.  The key is to systemically figure out which methods best suit your brand.

Once this is understood, the placement of the video is just as important. Among the primary goals should be to have it viewed by those who like your product but will appreciate the company more because of the tangible tips that they can apply to their everyday life (or business).  This strategy can assist with building generational and brand loyalty.

Another intention is to place your videos in front of people who could benefit from your product or service, if they only knew about it.  A good question to ask oneself is where do these people live?  Once that is answered, move your video into their neighborhood.  In this quest, seeking where the prospective clients or targeted demographic gets their information is immensely important.  Great familiarity with your audience and properly executed video production can be of significant value in increasing brand revenue.

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Small businesses are taking note.  The Q3 2010 WebVisible report, which analyzes data from more than 12,000 individual advertisers, found that nearly 30 percent of SMB advertisers included video on their landing pages in Q3 2010, more than double the number of advertisers using video a year ago.

The report confirms that on-site video is effective beyond boosting search results: “viewing video” was the second-most popular conversion action taken by consumers, after clicking through to the advertiser’s website.

The key is first to create a video that is attractive, informative and interesting to the consumers doing the searching, then making sure your video can easily be found and showcased by search engines.

Here are some tips:

1.  Produce content that is helpful. Videos don’t have to be funny to be effective.  In fact, funny is often beside the point.  What you want is something that will instruct potential customers and/or showcase your expertise in a way that ultimately inspires website visitors to buy from or hire you.  According to Pew Internet, 59 percent of Internet users look for how-to, do-it-yourself or repair information online.

So, an auto repair shop might demonstrate some of the more basic maintenance activities, like checking the oil or tire pressure.  If you’re a makeup artist, demonstrate how to apply the hottest eye shadows of the season.  An interior designer can give tips on how to check the quality or authenticity of antiques (think “Antiques Roadshow”).  Event planners might think about taping “A Day in the Life” segment to show how many things you have to juggle to pull off a great party – demonstrating why busy people should hire a professional instead of trying to do it all themselves.

2.  Budget to shoot a high-quality, professional video.  The shaky, hand-held camera with bad lighting is going to give your viewers a headache – a quick way to ensure they never watch another one of your videos again.  If you don’t have the funds to hire a professional, try bartering your services instead.  There are several online barter sites, like SwapAce.com , or just use your professional network to get referrals.

3.  Optimize your videos so they show up higher in search results. Use relevant, specific keywords in your title, subtitle and tags.  Continuing the makeup artist example from above, you may want to title your video, “Makeup Tips – How to Apply Eye Shadow for A Night Out Using X’s Technique.” Consider tags such as:  how to, makeup tips, makeup secrets, eye shadow, makeup tutorial, etc.  Also transcribe the video and provide links to the text, so search engines can more easily determine the content.

Finally, use a thumbnail that is a good representation of your video as a whole, so anyone who finds the small visual in search results will be intrigued enough to click through.

4.  Include a call-to-action at the end of your video, and offer as many ways to contact you as possible – phone, email, Facebook, etc.  Consider offering a promotion, like a discount, 2-for-1, or refer-a-friend offer.  And ask the viewer to pass the video on to a friend.

5.  Cross promote on all mediums. Upload your videos on your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages to drive more traffic.  Your friends are likely to share the content if they know it exists – and if you’ve followed the steps above to make your videos interesting.

Video is not just for YouTube anymore.  Hosting video on your own website and landing pages can be a powerful tool for driving more business and an effective way to showcase your expertise.

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The ability to see TV programs whenever they wish is the most valued benefit that survey respondents who currently access TV over the Internet identified, followed by the flexibility of being able to stop, pause, and replay. Many also like the access to content not easily seen on regular TV. However, for those who do not currently watch Internet TV, almost two-thirds saw no clear benefit to watching TV over the Internet.

Second, for those who do currently access it, the major concern is a “lack of smoothness in streaming or buffering of content.” More than 40% indicated that they do not have access to the kind of high-speed Internet connections that would solve this problem for them. Likely even with the access available, the price point may be higher than they wish to pay at the present. In fact, about two-fifths of those surveyed said they don’t download more content currently due to its cost.

Google TV’s entry in the market doesn’t solve these problems. However, it does bring the massive technological and financial power of the Google corporate behemoth to the table to help alleviate them — including the presence of more reasons to access Internet TV, increased visibility of the existence of Internet TV, and increased pressure on ISPs and others to provide faster and cheaper Internet access.

For more details on the study, visit www.radius-global.com.

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As I write this, coming back from The Engadget Show at The Times Center in NYC (where they discussed the new Google TV device), I am once again blown away by what I know is a huge step into the future.  The future of not only how we use media but how it will change the way we designers and marketers create it.  One cool moment at The Engadget Show was when they showed the live video on Google TV of The Engadget Show being filmed.  Of course, there was lag time but cool nonetheless.  One important note here:  although Google TV is very cool and definitely part of our future, don’t expect people to embrace it right away because a set top box is set to sell for $350.00, and if you want the Skype video conferencing experience, the camera will set you back another $150.  According to the Engadget team, it took an expert a half hour to connect the device to their cable box and TV (for us lay people that translates to probably an hour or more).  It will also take some time for companies to optimize their websites for Google TV as well.  However, if you are in the market for buying a new TV you can get a Sony TV with Google TV built in. Otherwise, I’d say wait a while.

Television has long been ridiculed for its linear, formal nature, and television providers have long been accused of bundling the few intriguing and creative TV shows with stagnant pixel slop. The glaring quality missing in television, at least until about the late 1990s, was choice. With a few notable exceptions, it wasn’t until premium cable channels began to create programming for programming’s sake that television began to change as a medium. The rest of the television industry moaned that this focus on quality was limited to channels who could ‘afford it’; i.e., the ones that charged for their services, and did not simply accept spare nickels from a passive subscriber network.

The wide popularity of the internet pulled the rug out from under the old infrastructural distribution models in practically every industry. It was no longer enough to simply build walls around the product and charge people for entry. In the internet age, content rapidly became defined by both its quality and its popularity, not by its provider. So what kind of impact will Google, the ubiquitous search engine turned multimedia Goliath that simply gave the people what they wanted as fast as they wanted it, have on television?

The most obvious change for television is the increased level of interactivity and power. Google TV offers viewers the ability to effortlessly glide between moving images and static ones, allowing them to research the entire history of a television show without ever leaving the screen. This seamless integration of information browsing and passive viewing elevates a previously intellectually barren activity into a mesmerizing and fully engaging experience. Google TV is the splendid, 3D visualization of multi-tasking.

For websites, Google TV has the potential to revamp the slowly solidifying template of web design — in this case, a static navigation bar with an interactive but distinctly separate video or animation cordoned off to the side — with constantly evolving content and display. Websites finally graduate from being mere portals to being experiences in of themselves. ‘Fonts’ can potentially change from being static text cut-outs to fully emotive designs, shifting shape, color, and size to suit the tone of the website. The best way to imagine this new vivacity in fonts is to see Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” which features a litany of different font faces that introduce different segments of the movie, which correspondingly mesh together rapidly to form a mood entirely of their own making.

Imagine a website which, instead of presenting a recognizable physical template, is identified purely by its ‘tone,’ not its look. Navigating it is more like walking through a building than paging through a book. Content constantly changes, due not only to the ‘designers’ of the website, but in accordance with the type of visitors and the information trails they leave behind (i.e., analytics for marketers). Rooms you once visited are now either off limits (because it is deemed unsafe for the viewer, i.e., children) or undergoing restoration (being modified to suit your needs), while new wings are opening up in every direction. Websites are no longer a display that helps you find what you’re looking for; the website itself IS what you are looking for, interpreting your needs by the moment.

This emphasis on movement is perhaps the most prominent characteristic of Google TV. Nothing stays still. By mixing two mediums, which have been known to be guilty of staying safe instead of embracing creativity, Google is taking the most captivating aspects of both mediums and boldly taking us into more creative waters.  How this will impact commerce is unknown, but now that people have accepted the internet as a viable medium, it doesn’t seem like it will be that difficult to generate a substantial profit from what promises to be an entirely new experience.   The bigger question here is which media networks will embrace and capitalize this change rapidly, for it will be these networks that will dominate the changing medium.   In fact, I just read that the major media networks are already blocking content from Google TV.  Do we have to take a look back at the profit margin lost by Universal Music for not embracing the change from CDs to mp3s?  A word of advice to the networks — embrace the change or fall behind rapidly!

All of this brings us back to the idea of genius, and the mastery of the obvious. For the past two decades, the world has been undergoing a significant period of transition. Old models have fallen in favor of new innovations. In an era where everything from the record industry to the government has had to adapt to an entirely new way of doing things, traditional communication methods have also had to respond accordingly. The question remains: if you mesh two 2D mediums, do you end up with something in 4D? Stay tuned.

If you’d like to see a replay of the Engadget Show go to: http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/23/the-engadget-show-live-with-microsofts-aaron-woodman-windows/

If you’re interested in learning about how to optimize websites for TV go here: http://code.google.com/tv/web/

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With the growth of citizen journalism and popularity of YouTube, video news development has been a very real possibility for Google for some time. With the new look Google News all about making it easier to share and personalize your own individual news experience, video news stories are a quick route into the consciousness of a target audience for website publishers.

Producing video releases in the same way as you’d traditionally put out a news release to announce a product launch or important event is an excellent opportunity to reach a new and more diverse audience immediately. To make the most of this chance, try these best practice guidelines, tips and techniques…

1.  Timing is everything: News becomes old news very quickly, particularly online where every second there are millions of other publishers submitting their news and views, all eager to have their minute in the spotlight. Where news can be consumed and replaced in the time it takes to click a mouse button, speedy uploads of news videos is the difference between publication and viewing by a large audience and languishing in the outer echelons of online current affairs.

Try and upload a video the same day as the story breaks, within an hour or two if possible. Any longer than 24 hours and unless it’s a major story that is likely to run on for days and days, it simply isn’t worth investing the time in filming, editing and uploading.

Professional news outfits turn stories around in a matter of minutes sometimes but non-professionals can also become quicker with practice – taking half an hour a day to familiarize yourself with the various aspects of your digital video camera or committing to attending a video editing course after work will really cut down on delays. As you become more familiar and more comfortable with shooting and editing functions and the equipment to hand, you should be able to create a short news video and upload it within hours.

2.  Be specific: The traditional rules of search engine optimization apply to videos to some extent; the title should relate to the content and the story should be specific and focused, making it easier for search engines to understand the video and how it should be grouped. It’s better to limit yourself to one story per video when it comes to multimedia News as that ensures ease of classification for the search engine spiders. You’ll also be less conflicted when writing an accurate title and description, as you won’t be trying to shoehorn four or five different keywords in to a space designed for one.

3.  It should be classified: When uploading your news videos to YouTube for Google News consideration, you’re far more likely to be featured in the higher realms of the News page if you accurately categorize your video. General news videos can be filed under the News and Politics category but anything else will have its own dedicated area. Think of YouTube as a library and yourself as the librarian to work out where best to locate your video to get as much traffic as possible. This is one of the reasons point two (above) is so important as its effects will filter down and either aid or hamper the rest of the process.

4.  Descriptions: The five W rule in journalism should be applied to the description filed. Forget long-winded and teasing intros, when describing a news video stick to Who, What, Where, When and Why. This information will play to the Google News gathering process, helping the spiders to understand which News category and which group of stories the video should be added too.

Tags will also help here so list the names of key figures in the video, as well as any locations that are significant to the story.

5.  Embed: Videos must be embeddable if they are to be found on Google News.  This technical requirement is actually a great reason to take the time to upload your own news videos to your own website. Embedding them within your own pages will have other benefits, particularly from an SEO perspective.

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